Meta-Anthropology: an Attractive Catchword or a Scientific Discipline? Three Stages in the Formation of Meta-Anthropology

The purpose of the article is to present meta-anthropology as an independent scientific discipline that can be developed in the image and likeness of other meta-sciences—metamathematics and metalogic, metaethics, and meta-sociology. This means identifying and formulating key meta-problems, creating a special meta-language, developing meta-theories, and obtaining non-trivial results, at least at the level of meta-classifications. The history of meta-anthropology, summarized in the article, shows that only the first three steps have been taken along this long path. These include the creation and justification of the term, the choice of a higher-level theory for constructing the theory of the discipline (world hypotheses and root metaphors), and the proposal of a normative model. The whole process entails a transformation of the whole anthropology due to the anthropologists’ transition from thinking/thought to meta-thinking/meta-thought. We will try to show that the meta-level of analysis is useful for anthropology, generates new knowledge and ideas, and unites different areas of anthropology. Some prospects for the further development of meta-anthropology and the limitations of this study are discussed.